A meeting of Special Committee for Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist Combatants scheduled for Sunday was put off at the eleventh hour after the Maoist members of the committee expressed their inability to attend the meeting.[break]
This is the second time in a week that the scheduled meeting of Special Committee meant to expedite the integration and rehabilitation process was put off after Maoists members did not turn up.
The UCPN (Maoist) has two members -- Barshaman Pun and Janardan Sharma -- in the Special Committee headed by Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal. Sharma has not attended the committee meeting for two weeks accusing top leaders of the party of making the Special Committee their ´puppet´.
Special Committee members from NC and UML said they have failed to achieve significant progress with regard to the peace process after the extension of the Constituent Assembly (CA) term. “We have failed to achieve any significant progress in the peace process. The core issues remain the same as before,” said Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, a member of Special Committee from NC.
Asked if the intra-party struggle within the Maoists had anything do with the dismal progress in peace process, Dr Mahat said, “I do not rule out the impact of intra-party power struggle within the Maoists for slow progress in the peace process.”
Three major political parties -- Maoist, NC and the UML -- had agreed to accomplish the “fundamental tasks” of peace process within the extended term of the CA.
So far, the Maoists have partially ended dual security provided to party senior leaders and the Special Committee representatives have reached all the 28 cantonments across the country. Likewise, the Special Committee has also begun recruiting surveyors.
But the parties continue to remain at odds on issues of integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants. “We continue to have serious differences with the Maoists on key issues including modality, number and rank harmonization of Maoist combatants to be integrated in the security agencies,” added Dr Mahat.
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